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Statistics

2012 Health Manpower Survey

Summary of the Characteristics of Doctors Enumerated

I. Doctors with Full Registration Covered

1.1  The doctors covered in the 2012 HMS were doctors fully registered* with the Medical Council of Hong Kong on the resident list† as at the survey reference date - 31.8.2012.

1.2  The number of doctors with full registration covered was 12 176.

1.3  Of the 12 176 doctors covered, 6 530 responded to the survey, giving an overall response rate of 53.6%. Among the 6 530 responding doctors, 5 865 (89.8%) were economically active‡§ (active) in the local medical profession as at 31.8.2012 and 665 (10.2%) reported that they were economically inactive‡║ (inactive) in the local medical profession (Chart A) .

1.4  Of the 5 865 active doctors, eight were seeking jobs and 11 believed that work was not available, were expecting to return to their original jobs, starting business at subsequent date or waiting to take up a new job in the local medical profession during the 30 days before the survey and nine had not been available for work because of temporary sickness. The survey results presented in paragraph 1.6 below were based on the 5 837 responding doctors who were practising in the local medical profession as at 31.8.2012. As some questionnaire items had missing responses, percentages presented below may not add up to 100%.

1.5  Of the 665 inactive doctors, 219 reported practising overseas, 13 reported practising in the Mainland and 433 reported not seeking jobs in the local medical profession during the 30 days before the survey (Chart A) .  Among the 433 inactive doctors who reported not seeking jobs, the main reasons reported for not seeking jobs included: 341 (78.8%) were retired, 34 (7.9%) were working in other professions, 32 (7.4%) wanted to take a rest / had no motive to work / had no financial need, and 18 (4.2%) were engaged in household duties.

* Refer to doctors registered in Part I of the Medical Register maintained by the Medical Council of Hong Kong under the Medical Registration Ordinance (Chapter 161).  These include doctors who hold the qualification of Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery issued in Hong Kong (MBBS (HK) / MBChB (CUHK)), Licentiate of Medical Council of Hong Kong (LMCHK) or other overseas qualifications registered with the Medical Council of Hong Kong.

† As the 2012 Health Manpower Survey only aimed at covering doctors practising in Hong Kong, doctors on the non-resident list of the Medical Register were excluded from the survey.

‡ In the survey, the criteria used in defining economically active / inactive followed those recommended by the International Labour Organization, which are also being used by the Census and Statistics Department in Hong Kong.

§ "Economically active" doctors comprised all "employed" and "unemployed" doctors.  "Employed" doctors referred to those doctors practising in the medical profession in Hong Kong during the survey period, while "unemployed" doctors referred to those doctors who (a) were not practising in the local medical profession during the survey period; (b) had been available for work during the seven days before the survey; and (c) had sought work in the local medical profession during the 30 days before the survey.

║ "Economically inactive" doctors comprised the doctors who were not practising in the medical profession in Hong Kong during the survey period, excluding those who were on leave during the survey period and who were "economically active" but "unemployed"

Chart A : Activity Status of Doctors Covered

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Activity Status of Doctors Covered Of the 12 176 doctors covered, 6 530 (53.6%) responded to the survey, while the remaining 5 646 (46.4%) did not respond. Among the respondents, 5 865 (89.8%) were active in the local medical profession whereas 665 (10.2%) reported to be inactive in the local medical profession.

1.6  A total of 89 doctors did not indicate sex. Of the remaining 5 748 active doctors enumerated who were practising in the local medical profession, 3 979 (69.2%) were male and 1 769 (30.8%) were female, giving an overall sex ratio (males per 100 females) of 225.  Apart from 67 doctors who did not indicate age, the median age of the remaining 5 770 active doctors enumerated was 47.0 years.  The median age of the active female doctors enumerated was 39.0 years and that of their male counterparts was 50.0 years.

1.7  The responding active doctors were requested to indicate the characteristics of their main jobs*.  Distribution by sector for the main job showed that the largest proportion (48.3%) of active doctors enumerated were working in the private sector, followed by those working in the Hospital Authority (41.9%), the Government (5.9%), the academic sector (2.8%) and the subvented sector (0.6%).

1.8  The median age of the doctors enumerated was 55.0 years for those working in the private sector, followed by 48.0 years for those working in the academic sector, 42.0 years in both the Government and subvented sector, and 38.0 years in the Hospital Authority.

1.9  Of the 5 837 active doctors enumerated, 65.2% spent most of their working time on specialist practice, followed by 30.7% on general practice, 2.8% on administration / management and 0.4% on teaching / education.

1.10  The median number of hours of work (excluding meal breaks) per week of the 5 837 active doctors enumerated was 45.0 hours.  Among them, 2 544 (43.6%) were required to undertake on-call duty, with a median of 18.0 hours on-call duty (excluding normal working hours) per week.

1.11  Regarding the average number of consultations / patients encountered per working day, 40.9% of the active doctors enumerated reported to have a range of 20 to 50 consultations / patients, 32.0% reported to have less than 20 consultations / patients and 15.8% reported to have more than 50 consultations / patients per working day.

1.12  Of the 5 837 active doctors enumerated, most (77.5%) earned a Bachelor’s Degree at a local university, while 13.2% held Bachelor’s Degree issued by overseas institutions.  Another 8.2% held the Licentiate of Medical Council of Hong Kong as their basic qualification.

Chart B : Number of Field of Specialty of Specialised Training Received / Being Received by Active Doctors Enumerated

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Chart title: Chart B: Number of Field of Specialty of Specialized Training Received / Being Received by Active Doctors Enumerated

Total number of active doctors enumerated = 5 837

1.13  Of the 5 837 active doctors enumerated, 4 835 (82.8%) obtained additional post-graduate qualification(s)*.  Among those active doctors who obtained additional post-graduate qualification, some of them obtained more than one additional post-graduate qualification. The total number of count of active doctor who obtained additional qualification was 7 419, of which, 47.4% had been awarded Fellowship / had passed the Exit Examination, 22.4% obtained a Diploma and 16.8% had been awarded Membership / had passed the Intermediate Examination.

1.14  Of the 5 837 active doctors enumerated, 4 296 (73.6%) received / were receiving specialised training.  Of the 4 296 doctors who received / were receiving specialised training, 4 168 (71.4%) were trained in one field of the specialised training. Among them, 21.1% were trained / being trained in internal medicine, 12.6% in surgery, 9.1% in both family medicine and paediatrics, 8.2% in obstetrics & gynaecology and 6.1% in anaesthesiology (Chart B) .

1.15  Regarding Continuing Medical Education (CME), 5 216 (89.4%) of the active doctors revealed that they had participated in CME activities in 2012, 446 (7.6%) did not participate in any CME activities and 175 (3.0%) did not reveal whether they had participated in CME activities or not.  Among the 5 216 active doctors enumerated who had participated in CME activities, the distribution of CME points attained in the past 12 months was: 1 to 10 points (6.5%), 11 to 20 points (10.2%), 21 to 30 points (21.2%) and 31 points or above (62.1%).

II. Trend Analysis

2.1  Comparison of findings of the 2012 HMS with those surveys before 2003 should be made with caution as the survey coverage, methodology and survey reference date had been changed (Chart C) .

2.2  The number of doctors with full registration increased from 3 487 in 1982 to 12 176 in 2012.

2.3  There was an increasing proportion of female doctors. The overall sex ratio (males per 100 females) showed a decrease from 520 in 1982 to 225 in 2012 (Table A) .

2.4  From 1982 to 1990, the largest proportion of active doctors enumerated was working in the private sector.  Together with those working in the Government, a total of around 80% of all doctors worked in both sectors.  Since the set up of the Hospital Authority in 1991 until 2006, it was the largest sector in which doctors worked.  The proportion of active doctors working in the private sector showed a steady increase from 39.1% in 2003 to 48.3% in 2012, and this sector has overtaken the Hospital Authority to become the largest sector in which doctors worked since 2007 .

Chart C : Number of Doctors with Full Registration Covered by Year (1982, 1984, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2012)

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Chart title: Chart C : Number of Doctors with Full Registration

Table A : Selected Characteristics of Active Doctors Enumerated (1982, 1984, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2012)

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Table title: Table A: Selected Characteristics of Active Doctors

10 Jan 2014